Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The rest of the outfit....part two

Ah. The veil. The single most defining piece of attire a bride can wear.

Let me preface this by saying - I have not found ANYTHING, EVER, to be more overpriced for what it is. (except, maybe, a KitchenAid mixer. Like, really now).

200$ for a piece of tulle?

What are you smoking?

I just couldn't justify that kind of cost. And while I love the look of a birdcage veil, I'm not sassy or stylish enough to carry it off. Plus, our wedding is a bit more of a formal affair than I personally think a birdcage veil calls for.

So I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be wearing a veil. Plenty of brides look amazing without one, and I knew I would look absolutely beautiful whether or not a piece of tulle was attached to my head. Plus, I reasoned to myself, I'm wearing a three-quarter sleeve length lace bolero (oh? I haven't told you about that? later, I promise). I didn't want anything to detract from it, so layering a long veil over it was definitely out.

Flash forward to this Saturday. I was really bored and poking around weddingbee, when I read Mrs. Star's journey. And stopped dead when I saw her veil.

Excuse me while I go pick up my jaw from the floor.

It's perfect.

It's not too long. It's not a birdcage. It's short and sweet and just bridal and formal enough for my sensibilities.

I've never seen a veil that length, ever. I don't even know what it's called; all I know is IwantitgottahaveitpleasebewithinwhatIcanspendohplease.

I'm changing it slightly - I want it even shorter. Because I really don't want to layer anything over the back of the bolero, I'm thinking of having it fall right to the back of my neck, perhaps a little bit longer, but not much.

The second change is with the lace edging. With my dress and the bolero both having lace, I felt that having the lace edging on the veil would be a little much. So, instead, I'm going to play up the other feature my dress has: I want to have a very few, scattered crystals incorporated into the piece.

I immediately fired off an email to Isobel, of Frash_Bel, who's handling my wedding day jewelery (an amazing necklace that I cannot WAIT to show you!) as well as my bridesmaid's gifts as a (very!) small token of my gratitude for dealing with crazy bridal me over the last year. She, the amazeballs she is, also does veils. All her work is custom designed-and-made and, most importantly of all for a girl like me, she is ridiculously affordable.

I crossed my fingers. And repeated my mantra of IwantitgottahaveitpleasebewithinwhatIcanspendohplease.